US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought on Tuesday to expand a "strategic partnership" with Indonesia, including increased military cooperation, after the decision last year to resume military aid that had long been cut off because of Indonesia's poor human rights record.
In a speech yesterday morning, she also sought to assure Indonesia that the US believed strongly in the role of the ASEAN, despite concerns here that the Bush administration had tried to bypass the group and make trade deals with individual members.
The centerpiece of the speech was a defense of the Bush administration's promotion of democracy in troubled regions. Rice said Indonesia had proved it was possible to overcome sectarian and ethnic differences and forge a democratic system.
PHOTO: AFP
She also said Indonesia had made progress in combating military corruption.
"A reformed and effective Indonesian military is in the interest of everyone in this region, because threats to our common security have not disappeared," she said.
Rice was well received at her speech, to 500 business, academic and civic leaders at the Indonesia World Affairs Council, but she faced pointed questions about US policies, especially in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many in the audience also appeared to feel the US was heavy-handed in its approach to Southeast Asia.
To a questioner demanding to know why the US uses force to get its way, Rice said that it was "rare, very rare, that military power is needed" to bring about change.
On US policies toward Indonesia, she said: "It's not paternalism, it's a partnership."
The session reflected what US officials say is lingering distrust of US intentions. Indonesia, for example, has not backed the US approach to bring Iran to the UN Security Council. Also, Indonesia, and several other nations in the region, oppose the US effort to force a cutoff in ties to Myanmar.
On Tuesday, Rice and the Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda used the phrase "strategic partnership," reflecting US interest in building Indonesia into a major commercial and military power in Southeast Asia, in part to help counter the influence of China.
In the US, the Defense Department has been pressing for a resumption of military aid to Indonesia, which was gradually phased out after Indonesian security forces fired on civilians protesting Indonesian rule in East Timor in 1991. East Timor's vote for independence in 1999 removed a major obstacle to the resumption, but human rights groups have opposed the idea.
Rice stopped in Jakarta on a swing across the Southern Hemisphere that started in Chile, over the weekend. Next she is going to Australia. State Department officials traveling with her said it was important that she underscore Washington's growing ties with Indonesia since the election of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2004. The officials said Yudhoyono sought to regain civilian control of the military, attack corruption and improve the climate for US investment.
Another objective of the trip for Rice was to try to reach out to Indonesia's predominantly Muslim population, which is distrustful of US intentions because of the Iraq war and the incarceration of terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"Sometimes I think there's a lack of understanding of how much the United States respects the people of Islamic faith," Rice said at a news conference with Wirajuda.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the